Man enters no contest plea in fatal crossbow shooting of horse

ALTON- The man accused of shooting and killing a horse with a crossbow entered a no contest plea to a felony count of cruelty to an animal.

According to the Humboldt County District Attorney's Office, Joshua Slater shot a young horse named "Cash" in Alton back in April. A second case of felony animal cruelty involved the alleged killing of a goat just eight days later. The District Attorney also said in March park rangers at the Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park allegedly found Slater in possession of deer and elk parts. Becki Bean, Cash’s owner, said she and her family are still trying to deal with the loss of their horse, and hope Slater gets his maximum sentence,

“From what I know about him I do not really want to see him back out on the street period. If you are going to begin torturing animals, it may move to something more serious and that freaks me out. It is always terrible when you lose an animal, the kids are always asking about him so we are just glad that everything is coming to a close and we can move on past everything.”

Slater is set to be sentenced Jan. 15 and faces up to three years in local custody.